June Bride (A Year in Paradse Book 7)

by Hildred Billings

  Chapter 16

  SUNNY

  The day of her wedding arrived, yet Sunny still wasn’t convinced she was getting married.

  She sat in her underwear – the department store lingerie she purchased for this occasion, no less – at the foot of her bed, gazing into the nothingness that was her bedroom. I wish I could say that it’s cold feet preventing me from getting dressed. If anything, her feet were sweaty. The carpet held in the heat of the warm summer morning. A gentle breeze occasionally blew by, and the birds in the trees outside her cottage window chirped as if they had a great conference to conduct. The shouts and responses of Debbie the wedding planner and a few of her hired hands put the finishing touches on everything outside. In two hours, Sunny would be getting married.

  Brandelyn had been awaiting her at rehearsal the evening before, and the smiles they gave one another reassured everyone in their party that they had peacefully made up and intended to go through with the event. Yet their practice kiss had been hollow. Nerves bubbled up Sunny’s throat as if she were ready to throw up at any moment. The knot in her stomach had her pressing her hand against it every three seconds, wondering if her period would make an obnoxious appearance a few days early. Brandelyn may have planned their big day down to the perfect moment of her cycle, but Sunny would be lucky to make it through most of the honeymoon without Aunt Flo deciding to tag along.

  It’s the perfect day for getting married. The sun was bright and warm. The air was full of the scents of freshly cut grass and flowers. Laughter carried on the wind, for even Debbie and her crew were nothing but happy smiles as they prepared for the biggest lesbian wedding of their summer. Sunny’s family were still cleaning up the big breakfast they cooked in Waterlily House, not that the bride had any appetite. Her mother and Aunt Jill joked that she was nervous about saying the vows and having her first dance as a married woman. Sunny was more concerned that she was making a big, huge mistake.

  So… cold feet.

  She couldn’t pinpoint where this came from or how normal it was. Regardless of the fights she and Brandelyn had recently, would she have felt the same way? Was Sunny Croker destined to hyperventilate a little on the morning of her wedding? Wearing nothing but her underwear, no less?

  Her hands disappeared between her thighs. As her knees closed in on her forearms, Sunny hunched over and let out a big, exasperated breath.

  It did not help her feel better.

  “So, what’s it gonna be?” Dressed in nothing but a white slip that showed off more than what was publicly kosher, Anita entered the bedroom with her bridesmaid’s dress slung over her shoulder. The bright pink fabric poked out of the bottom. She’s gonna look so good today. After receiving the exact shade of pink Brandelyn demanded, Anita went out and bought a white cocktail dress that flattered her figure and showed off her long, modelesque legs. “I don’t get to wear something like this to work!” she had said when she first showed it off to Sunny. When it came back from its dye-job, the rosy pink only brought out more of Anita’s color and flirtatious personality as she pranced about Sunny’s cottage. I’m cool with that. Sunny wouldn’t mind her bridesmaid deflecting the attention off the bride. Well, that bride, anyway.

  “Huh?” Sunny asked, morose.

  “Will you be the dashing groom in a suit?” Anita pulled open the closet doors to reveal the finely pressed suit Sunny had brought back from the city a few days ago. “Or will you be the beautiful, blushing bride in her humble dress?” Fingers flitted over the dress, still put away in its bag. “Hurry, now, the bonus round is about to end!”

  “Don’t do that.” Sunny slumped onto her side. “No matter which I choose, I feel like I picked the wrong one. Oh, and I’ve wasted money either way.”

  “Come on. You can wear this fancy tux to other functions in the future. Can’t exactly wear a dress to…”

  “The tux is a rental,” Sunny reminded her friend. “I won’t be wearing it anywhere else.” She had plenty of nice dress clothes for formal events, anyway.

  “So…” Anita closed the door on the tux. “You know the answer, then.”

  Sunny curled up into a helpless ball. “Am I doing the right thing by marrying Brandelyn?”

  While Anita did her best to hide the massive eyeroll gaining traction in the center of her face, Sunny still saw it. Coming for her, no less. “Don’t do this to me, Sun. I’m your friend, not your fall girl for when you jump into your car and drive all the way to Ashland to start your new life in a lesbian commune. Also, I’m not following you if you become a runaway bride. Although Brandy might. I bet she’ll drag her big dress into the nearest truck and run you down somewhere on I5.”

  Sunny snorted in mild amusement. The image of Brandy in a giant bridal gown – the kind to swallow her whole, of course – brought with it the few moments of mirth Sunny had been missing on her wedding day. “You know what I mean.”

  “Do I?” Anita asked. “Because nobody was more excited than you when Brandelyn asked you to marry her. Remember? You drove to my house and got out of your car screaming so loudly that I thought you had lost one of your limbs. Bonnie still has night terrors from it.” She sat on the edge of Sunny’s bed, but didn’t try to touch her. “I thought you two made up after last weekend?”

  “We did, but…”

  “Don’t tell me this is general cold feet. I can’t do jack about that.”

  “All I’m saying is that I’m not 100% sure that Brandy is the woman I’m meant to be with for the rest of my life. This wedding has taken a toll on our relationship. What if it never recovers after today? What if I spend the rest of my life making concessions to keep her happy?”

  Anita flung herself back onto the bed, the whole thing shaking enough that Sunny almost rolled onto the floor. “What if, what if, what if! Do you know how many times a day I hear that phrase from my students? The little buggers love throwing it at me. ‘What if I lose my file, Ms. Tichenor?’ ‘What if I regret going to U of O instead of OSU?’ ‘What if my dad decides to leave my mom?’ Like, give me a break. I’m not a seer. I can’t look into the future and tell you whether or not you’re making the right decision about a major life event. You either do it or you don’t! But I’ll tell you what I tell my students.” Anita rolled over, finger pointing right in Sunny’s face. “You have to ask if you would regret not doing something more than having done it. Is the one college really more appealing, or are you being indecisive? Would you be more upset if you broke up with Brandy than if you ended up going through a divorce later? I mean really, Sunny, what’s the worst that happens?”

  “Like you said, a really messy divorce…”

  “What’s the alternative? Not getting married? Splitting up? Wasting all the money you’ve spent on this wedding and nothing happens? Come on. Is that really what you want? Or do you want to marry the woman you love? If you could make it through this wedding planning, you can make it through anything. Probably.”

  Sunny sat up, her feet finally touching the ground again. “You’re right. I have to decide what I would regret the most. Damn the consequences!”

  “Not quite what I said…”

  But Sunny was marching to her closet, doors flying open as her determination only grew.

  Chapter 17

  BRANDELYN

  Brandy made the point to not eat breakfast on the morning of her wedding. She didn’t want to risk the bloat in her perfectly fitted wedding dress. She also didn’t want to risk throwing up from the nerves exploding from both within and from all around her.

  That meant she was more than a little woozy as she stepped off the stool Apple the seamstress used for last-minute alterations to the hem of the dress.

  “Oh, look at you!” Cathy flashed a camera in her daughter’s face. Brandy swore she was about to be sick. Again. “My little girl on her wedding day! This dress is prettier than I remember! You look like an angel!”

  “I do?” Brandy turned to the mirror. She had commandeered Aunt Jill’s guest room in Water
lily House for her glow-up, since she would be damned if she sat in a car with this thing on. (Let alone before the ceremony and the appropriate number of pictures.) She wouldn’t risk a single crease or stain until the cake was cut! “Thanks, Mom.”

  They shared a hug – that definitely stuck a crease in Brandy’s dress – before she went to find her sister and cousin in their dresses. Lizzie was radiant in her pink chiffon gown that sported a big bow in the back and an acceptable neckline. Much better than the tawdry dress she originally wanted to wear before Brandelyn stepped in and told her to “class it up for the wedding!” More city hall shotgun wedding jokes were shared as everyone remembered the cleavage Lizzie sported at her own wedding. “As if we didn’t know how you got a bun in the oven to begin with…” Cathy always loved to hoot.

  Monica wasn’t an official bridesmaid, to keep the numbers even, but she also wore a pink dress and pinned a red rose to her bodice. She was in charge of the boys, currently running amok up and down the stairs of Waterlily House, but Brandelyn was too excited about her big day to yell at them for shaking the photo prints on the wall.

  The photographer arrived right on time for the family photos and the pre-ceremony shots of the bride. Brandelyn corralled her nerves as she sat in a windowsill, her veil, gown, and bouquet arranged in such a way that she would be captured in such a radiancy again. Her mother shed more than a few tears behind the cameraman as she took multiple photos from different angles. Every time the words “Such an angel!” were uttered, Brandelyn smiled a little wider. That’s right. I am an angel. That meant this was Heaven!

  All the beauty! All the potential!

  All the attention!

  Debbie popped into the guest room fifteen minutes before the start of the ceremony. “Brandy!” she hissed, hand waving the bride over to the doorway. “We need to talk.”

  The color drained from Brandelyn’s face. What had happened? Were the caterers stuck on the highway? Had the flowers blown away in a strong breeze? Was Mayor Rath too sick to perform the ceremony? I swear to God, Karen, if you bail on me on my wedding day, I’m making you pay for SO many tests during your next checkup!

  “What is it?” Brandelyn braced against the doorframe.

  “There’s been a slight change to the ceremony.”

  “What!”

  “Sunny insisted. She, uh…” Debbie pulled at her collar. “She asked me to not tell you what she had decided, but you’re to go on at the usual time. Just… don’t panic if things are a little different.”

  Brandy had half a mind to grab Debbie by the collar and shake her. “What!” she repeated.

  “Everything is fine!” Debbie backed away before the bride could choke her. “You go on in ten!”

  That did not help Brandy, who took one step toward the wedding planner before her mother intervened.

  “Do you know anything about this?” she asked Cathy.

  “Not at all. I hope everything is all right. Why would she tell you something like that if it wasn’t that dire?”

  Don’t panic, huh? Brandelyn had no idea how to take that. She was stuck following her usual schedule, only now with a new layer of dread settling in over her. I swear to God, Sunny… Last minute changes had to be run by her first!

  Not that Brandy had much opportunity to think about them when everyone was ushering her out of the house and to the start of the ceremony. Guests, dressed in suits and lovely dresses, sat in the rows upon rows of chairs meant to accommodate up to three hundred people. Murmurs erupted around Brandelyn, who could hardly avoid attention before reaching the head of the aisle created on the sprawling lawns of Waterlily House.

  She had already forgotten about supposed changes by the time the sun beat down upon her bare shoulders. This was it. It was happening. She was getting married, and soon everything she had spent her whole life dreaming about would come to fruition.

  How was she supposed to hold back the wibbling lips and tears sure to ruin her mascara?

  Whispers of her stunning beauty erupted into the air. The live pianist from the Baptist church switched from a classical number to “In the Air Tonight,” one of Brandy’s favorite songs.

  Orchid petals were already strewn about the walkway. Lizzie looked over her shoulder with a reassuring smile before their father appeared to take Brandy’s arm.

  “Oh, my, look at my gorgeous princess.” He beamed in pride, although his nervous sweats already permeated his face and suit. Brandelyn overlooked that to instead rake in the compliments. T-minus ten until we walk down the aisle… “I can’t believe this is happening. My oldest girl is getting married.”

  “Come on, Daddy, don’t make me cry.” It was bad enough her stepfather leaped into the aisle to snap a few pictures on Cathy’s behalf. They had to wait for Debbie to whisk him away before the pianist switched to the wedding march. Three hundred guests stood. Brandelyn put on a big grin as she kissed her father on the cheek and turned the corner to gasps of delight. “I’ve got time to cry later!”

  Her smile fell off her face as soon as she looked down the aisle.

  Karen stood there, ready to officiate the wedding. So did Lizzie and Anita, two bridesmaids in matching pink dresses.

  Yet Sunny was nowhere to be seen.

  “Uh…” Brandy almost missed her cue to begin her walk down the aisle. What was supposed to be a blessed moment of lifelong triumph was suddenly bogged down in panic. “Where’s Sunny?” she asked through a gritted smile.

  Her father hadn’t heard her. He didn’t seem to think anything was amiss as he took the lead. Brandelyn searched for Debbie’s face in the crowd and sent her the most anxious expression she could muster. She received two thumbs up, as if that made everything better!

  “What is going on?” Brandy hissed in Anita’s direction as soon as she was up front. Karen avoided eye contact. Lizzie was only checked-in long enough for a photograph. Beyond that? Brandy was still on her own. “Where the hell is my fiancée?”

  Anita, who was pink with pride, jerked her head toward the aisle. “Why don’t you chill out a bit and go with the flow, huh?”

  Brandelyn couldn’t say she appreciated that sentiment. Yet what other choice did she have? As soon as her father went to sit down, she was alone with nothing but her bouquet and hubris. After exchanging a pathetic look with Karen, Brandy turned around in her designated spot and tried to keep smiling for the cameras.

  The wedding march continued. Brandy squared her shoulders and faced the head of the aisle.

  The murmurs were renewed as soon as Sunny appeared. Apparently, she had bucked their rehearsed movements in the name of stealing the spotlight to herself.

  Not that Brandy could blame her. She had never seen such a beautiful bride before.

  Sunny wore a simple sleeveless gown that boasted a plain, heart-shaped bodice and a skirt made of yards of tulle. Her short, feathery blond hair held no veil, but the sparkling barrettes she wore above her bangs drew Brandelyn’s eye as if that had always been the plan. A small bouquet of pink and purple pansies was clutched in one of Sunny’s hands as the other held her skirt high up enough for her to walk in white ballet flats.

  Everyone ooh’d and awed. The photographer went nuts, taking pictures of both Sunny and the shocked expression on Brandelyn’s frozen face.

  The selfish side of her demanded to know why all of her plans had been so unceremoniously overthrown. She knew she had told Sunny she could wear her dress, but did that mean she got to walk second? That she stole Brandy’s thunder as the consummate bride on her wedding day? This was what everyone would remember from the ceremony. Brandelyn was no longer Princess Diana.

  Sunny was.

  Yet the overwhelming feelings bubbling within Brandelyn told her selfish side to shut the hell up.

  She’s so beautiful… Perhaps everyone around her assumed that the tears welling within Brandy’s eyes were because her attention had been stolen. In truth, she was overwhelmed by the radiant woman walking down the aisle as if she had been
born to become a blushing bride. It was a side to her Brandelyn had never seen before. Here I am, sharing it with three-hundred people. She was sharing the happiest day of her life with three-hundred lucky people.

  Mostly with Sunny, who reached the end of the aisle with a smile on her pink lips.

  “Hey,” she said, handing Anita her tiny bouquet and reaching to take Brandy’s hands. “We look pretty good together up here, huh?”

  Karen sighed in reverence while the pianist stopped playing and the guests sat down. The hush falling over the wedding ceremony would be the last time either of them beheld silence for the rest of the day.

  It was the moment for Brandelyn to look back on the past forty-two years of life. Forty-two years of hoping, praying, and planning. Everything in her romantic heart had led up to this precious moment. The most important vision her subconscious insisted upon was mired in self-doubt and confusion as she looked upon the cute woman in a simple, cheap wedding dress. What was that feeling in Brandy’s chest? Disbelief? Fear? Anxiety?

  Perhaps the answer was more benign than that.

  Maybe she simply couldn’t handle how perfect this blessed moment was.

  THE END

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  JULY SKIES

  (A Year In Paradise #7)

  Nobody loves Paradise Valley more than Mayor Karen Rath, a woman who works tirelessly to keep the town’s cogs turning and the people content. This doesn’t leave much time for love and dating, but the single mom of two grown kids has better things to do.